The Mental Health Issues of the Sri Lankan War Widows

If men were the principle casualties of the War, these widows represent its collateral damage.- Ed Payne: “Collateral Damage

(March 24, Ontario, Sri Lanka Guardian) One harsh reality of the war is that the every soldier killed in war leaves behind grieving relatives. It has been a reality since the Trojan War.

The women who were left widows as a result of the Sri Lankan conflict are facing radically altered circumstances. There are estimated thousands of War widows and war-affected family members from the Tri Forces who still experience grief reactions. Many widows are in the 22 to 35 age group and with the death of their husbands; these women have become a psychologically and socially vulnerable group. Most of the women who underwent severe emotional pain still have not completely recovered. Many have become the victims of pathological grief. They are unable to work through their grief despite the passage of time. With the widowhood, they experience identity change, role adjustment and change in social status.

Sri Lanka Guardian: The Mental Health Issues of the Sri Lankan War Widows

Professional College Counseling Pays Off In The End

College Planning Consultant: Professional College Counseling Pays Off In The End

"If we're going to make any dent on poverty in America, we have to help students get a postsecondary degree." Melinda French Gates

Steve Wagasky, College Funding Consultant
College Planning Professionals
http://collegeplanningprofessionals.com
stevewagasky@collegepp.com

93% of LE has yet to be properly informed of the vital necessity of NamUs

NamUs.Gov LE Awareness Campaign

Time: March 8, 2010 at 6pm to April 8, 2010 at 7pm Location: USA Website or Map: http://namus.gov Event Type: namus-le-awareness Organized By: Sara/Peace4 Co-Founder Latest Activity: 1 minute ago

Have you checked with your local law enforcement concerning their awareness and use of NamUs.Gov? 93% of LE has yet to be properly informed of the vital necessity of NamUs.

Although it may take some effort, Together .. We Can! This is a call for action ... please help spread awareness to those in law enforcement of NamUs.Gov ... LE Training Modules http://projects.nfstc.org/namus/ Let's see how much we can accomplish in 1 month's time!

Read more at peace4missing.ning.com

How to spot an online bully

The serial bully
How to spot signs and symptoms of serial bullies, sociopaths and psychopaths
including the sociopathic behaviour of the industrial psychopath and the corporate psychopath

 

Types of serial bully: The Attention-Seeker, The Wannabe, The Guru and The Sociopath

"All cruelty springs from weakness."
(Seneca, 4BC-AD65)

"Most organisations have a serial bully. It never ceases to amaze me how one person's divisive, disordered, dysfunctional behaviour can permeate the entire organisation like a cancer."
Tim Field

"The truth is incontrovertible; malice may attack it, ignorance my deride it, but in the end, there it is."
Winston Churchill

"Lack of knowledge of, or unwillingness to recognise, or outright denial of the existence of the serial bully is the most common reason for an unsatisfactory outcome of a bullying case for both the employee and employer"
Tim Field

I estimate one person in thirty, male or female, is a serial bully. Who does the following profile describe in your life?

The serial bully:

• is a convincing, practised liar and when called to account, will make up anything spontaneously to fit their needs at that moment
• has a Jekyll and Hyde nature - is vile, vicious and vindictive in private, but innocent and charming in front of witnesses; no-one can (or wants to) believe this individual has a vindictive nature - only the current target of the serial bully's aggression sees both sides; whilst the Jekyll side is described as "charming" and convincing enough to deceive personnel, management and a tribunal, the Hyde side is frequently described as "evil"; Hyde is the real person, Jekyll is an act
• excels at deception and should never be underestimated in their capacity to deceive
• uses excessive charm and is always plausible and convincing when peers, superiors or others are present (charm can be used to deceive as well as to cover for lack of empathy)
• is glib, shallow and superficial with plenty of fine words and lots of form - but there's no substance
• is possessed of an exceptional verbal facility and will outmanoeuvre most people in verbal interaction, especially at times of conflict
• is often described as smooth, slippery, slimy, ingratiating, fawning, toadying, obsequious, sycophantic
• relies on mimicry, repetition and regurgitation to convince others that he or she is both a "normal" human being and a tough dynamic manager, as in extolling the virtues of the latest management fads and pouring forth the accompanying jargon
• is unusually skilled in being able to anticipate what people want to hear and then saying it plausibly
• cannot be trusted or relied upon
• fails to fulfil commitments
• is emotionally retarded with an arrested level of emotional development; whilst language and intellect may appear to be that of an adult, the bully displays the emotional age of a five-year-old
• is emotionally inept (*edited) and emotionally untrustworthy
• exhibits unusual and inappropriate attitudes to sexual matters, sexual behaviour and bodily functions; underneath the charming exterior there are often suspicions or hints of sex discrimination and sexual harassment, perhaps also sexual dysfunction, sexual inadequacy, sexual perversion, sexual violence or sexual abuse
• in a relationship, is incapable of initiating or sustaining intimacy
• holds deep prejudices (eg against the opposite gender, people of a different sexual orientation, other cultures and religious beliefs, foreigners, etc - prejudiced people are unvaryingly unimaginative) but goes to great lengths to keep this prejudicial aspect of their personality secret
• is self-opinionated and displays arrogance, audacity, a superior sense of entitlement and sense of invulnerability and untouchability
• has a deep-seated contempt of clients in contrast to his or her professed compassion
• is a control freak and has a compulsive need to control everyone and everything you say, do, think and believe; for example, will launch an immediate personal attack attempting to restrict what you are permitted to say if you start talking knowledgeably about psychopathic personality or antisocial personality disorder in their presence - but aggressively maintains the right to talk (usually unknowledgeably) about anything they choose; serial bullies despise anyone who enables others to see through their deception and their mask of sanity
• displays a compulsive need to criticise whilst simultaneously refusing to value, praise and acknowledge others, their achievements, or their existence
• shows a lack of joined-up thinking with conversation that doesn't flow and arguments that don't hold water
• flits from topic to topic so that you come away feeling you've never had a proper conversation
• refuses to be specific and never gives a straight answer
• is evasive and has a Houdini-like ability to escape accountability
• undermines and destroys anyone who the bully perceives to be an adversary, a potential threat, or who can see through the bully's mask
• is adept at creating conflict between those who would otherwise collate incriminating information about them
• is quick to discredit and neutralise anyone who can talk knowledgeably about antisocial or sociopathic behaviors
• may pursue a vindictive vendetta against anyone who dares to held them accountable, perhaps using others' resources and contemptuous of the damage caused to other people and organisations in pursuance of the vendetta
• is also quick to belittle, undermine, denigrate and discredit anyone who calls, attempts to call, or might call the bully to account
• gains gratification from denying people what they are entitled to
• is highly manipulative, especially of people's perceptions and emotions (eg guilt)
• poisons peoples' minds by manipulating their perceptions
• when called upon to share or address the needs and concerns of others, responds with impatience, irritability and aggression
• is arrogant, haughty, high-handed, and a know-all
• often has an overwhelming, unhealthy and narcissistic attention-seeking need to portray themselves as a wonderful, kind, caring and compassionate person, in contrast to their behaviour and treatment of others; the bully sees nothing wrong with their behavior and chooses to remain oblivious to the discrepancy between how they like to be seen and how they are seen by others
• is spiritually dead although may loudly profess some religious belief or affiliation
• is mean-spirited, officious, and often unbelievably petty
• is mean, stingy, and financially untrustworthy
• is greedy, selfish, a parasite and an emotional vampire
• is always a taker and never a giver
• is convinced of their superiority and has an overbearing belief in their qualities of leadership but cannot distinguish between leadership (maturity, decisiveness, assertiveness, co-operation, trust, integrity) and bullying (immaturity, impulsiveness, aggression, manipulation, distrust, deceitfulness)
• often fraudulently claims qualifications, experience, titles, entitlements or affiliations which are ambiguous, misleading, or bogus
• often misses the semantic meaning of language, misinterprets what is said, sometimes wrongly thinking that comments of a satirical, ironic or general negative nature apply to him or herself
• knows the words but not the song
• is constantly imposing on others a false reality made up of distortion and fabrication
• sometimes displays a seemingly limitless demonic energy especially when engaged in attention-seeking activities or evasion of accountability and is often a committee-aholic or apparent workaholic

Responsibility
The serial bully appears to lack insight into his or her behaviour and seems to be oblivious to the crassness and inappropriateness thereof; however, it is more likely that the bully knows what they are doing but elects to switch off the moral and ethical considerations by which normal people are bound. If the bully knows what they are doing, they are responsible for their behaviour and thus liable for its consequences to other people. If the bully doesn't know what they are doing, they should be suspended from duty on the grounds of diminished responsibility and the provisions of the Mental Health Act should apply.


Please join us at Peace4 the Missing
Missing Persons Awareness and Support Network
http://peace4missing.ning.com

If you become a target of online harassment, stay cool and keep a record

Online Targeting and Harassment
Aidan Maconachy

Most internet harassment goes on in chat rooms and newsgroups, also via email. Internet law has tightened up since the early free wheeling days when there were very few controls in place. For example it's become a federal crime in the US to anonymously "annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass any person" via internet or other telecommunication systems. So it's on the books, if people choose to go after the bullies.

Some people do. In a precedent setting case in 2006, a Florida woman, Susan Scheff, successfully sued for defamation over the internet and was awarded $11.3 million. The defendant was unhappy with the referral service offered by the plaintiff and posted complaints and insults on the internet, accusing Ms Scheff of being a"crook" and a "fraud".

Another 2006 case in the UK suggests that tolerances are rapidly changing. Internet users are becoming less willing to put up with personal attacks, and in some cases are taking it all the way to the top. In the UK case, a Tracy Williams was ordered to pay damages of 10,000 pounds plus 7,200 pounds in costs for accusing a male acquaintance, Michael Keith-Smith, of being a "sex offender" and "racist blogger". She also accused his wife of being a prostitute.

I'm not wholly enthusiastic about these cases, because a legal chill is liable to act as a powerful disincentive when it comes to simple use of language. After all, part of the power of the net is that it is a lot less regulated than many other aspects of our lives. This is why we need to police ourselves and avoiding indulging in behavior that will provide justification for those who are eager for excuses to increase regulation and control.

If you do become a target of harassment or defamation, stay cool. Don't react or get into a flame war with the people doing the harassing. Make a point though of keeping a record - emails, posted comments etc, along with dates, times and any identifying information that may come in handy at a later date.

Depending on the stealth method used, you might be able to acquire additional info about the source of the attack. Legitimate services such as "nslookup" and "tracert" enable users to track hosts, IP addresses and MAC addresses. There are also professional services you can enlist that use the information you provide to dig for additional info. Make sure they operate within the law, as some are little more than hackers-for-hire.

As in any ordinary case of harassment, it's important to build the case and gather the evidence. Don't release any of this material to the person you suspect is behind the abuse, until and if you are prepared to go the distance.

If you are concerned about your privacy and reputation, it may be advisable lower your profile. Often disengagement and non-reaction stops harassment because most cyber trolls and bullies get their jollies from the belief that they are ruining your life.

If there is no hidden history or baggage you are anxious to keep confidential i.e. criminal record, then continue to put your best foot forward. Most users savvy with the ways of the net are well aware that defamation is a weapon that can be used for any one of a number of malicious reasons. There are outspoken politicians and pundits online who attract pages of gossip and speculation on Google. Most of them remain unaffected by it and keep on trucking.

Over time, defamatory commentary loses its edge when it becomes apparent that nothing has come of it. It gets to be old news. In a way you will be stronger for it. Other net users get to know who is being harassed and look to see how the target is reacting. In the case of bloggers, it's important not to allow harassment to become an obsession, and especially not a subject for constant posts. To most readers this comes across as a bit unhinged and obsessive. Not helpful, since the average visitor has little or no interest in a blogger's personal online angst.

It really comes down to the individual in the end. If you've nothing to hide - you have nothing to fear except fear itself.

Aidan Maconachy is a freelance writer and artist based in Ontario. You can visit his blog at aidanmaconachyblog.blogspot.com/.

It’s like having a million eyes looking at your case

Internet databases help police solve missing persons cases - Public’s searches of databases help authorities identify victims.

By Doug Page, Staff Writer 10:22 PM Saturday, February 27, 2010 
 
ENGLEWOOD — Over the past 12 months, the Miami Valley Regional Crime Lab has cleared four missing persons cases — two in Montgomery County and one each in Warren and Preble counties — through the public’s searches of Internet databases.

“Families of the missing never give up,” said Ken Betz, crime lab director. “The Internet has really assisted us.”

The launching in January 2009 of NamUs.gov shows what a potent crime fighter electronic connectivity can be. The database includes information on more than 6,000 unidentified remains and more than 2,000 missing persons.

Before NamUs.gov, “everybody had their own local database,” said Kevin Lothridge, CEO of the National Forensic Science Technology Center in Largo, Fla. The center manages the NamUs — the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System — Web site for the Department of Justice.

“Now there is one place where law enforcement and the public can look at the data,” Lothridge said. “It’s like having a million eyes looking at your case.”

Naming a victim
For 22 years, Englewood police had been trying to identify a woman whose body had been dumped along Interstate 70 in August 1987.

A public service announcement for NamUs at the end of the television drama “The Forgotten” caught the eye of a Kansas City, Mo., family. A family member went online and found a description of her sister’s distinctive tattoos linked to Englewood’s Jane Doe. She called Englewood police.

 https://www.findthemissing.org/homes/how_it_works_video

Sgt. Mike Lang then called the crime lab to begin the process of DNA identification. Early this month, the crime lab officially confirmed the woman’s name as Paula Beverly Davis.

Down to one
The Miami Valley Regional Crime Lab is down to one John Doe: the skeletal remains discovered April 10, 2006, in the 300 block of West Paul Laurence Dunbar Street in Dayton. Case 06-1200 was entered into NamUs last week. The remains are those of black man between 40 and 60 years old. He may have lived a hard life. There are signs of a old broken wrist and ribs. He was plagued by arthritis and was missing seven teeth.

The case log continues with a detailed description of the clothes found at the scene.

Those are the types of details that solve cases, said Lothridge. “The leads come from the data.”

Lang said Englewood police never stopped searching for the identity of the woman dumped next to the interstate.

“Every year, we’d get tips, but they all came up dry,” he said. He recalled it was not unusual to get teletype requests from other departments around the nation, sometimes on a weekly basis.

But police could never put the right eyes on what they knew about the woman. With NamUs, “We now have databases that talk to each other,” said Betz.

NamUs is two databases — one for unidentified remains, the other for missing persons.

When a new Jane Doe is entered into the unidentified remains database, the details are checked against the missing persons database. For instance, an unidentified female body found in New York City might have a pink pig tattoo on her ankle. That detail would be compared to the missing persons database to see if any pink pigs turn up. If so, authorities can look closer.

In June, a member of the public searching NamUs noticed a number of similarities between a woman missing since 2002 and a Jane Doe found two years later outside of Albuquerque, N.M. Authorities had attempted to link the two cases through DNA in 2005, but the tests were not conclusive. After the citizen contacted NamUs about the similarities, a forensic odontologist helped police identify the remains as that of Sonia Lente.

No lack of cases
As of Friday, Feb. 26, NamUs had 6,242 unidentified men and women listed on its database. That number goes up daily.

Estimates are that 4,400 unidentified remains are found every year. Of those, around 1,000 remain unknowns a year later.

Best guess is at least 44,000 cases nationwide await identification. With each identification, public awareness grows, said Lothridge, and that can only help reduce the backlog.

“The public is genuinely helping,” he said. “And as families discover the fate of loved ones, they become believers in what we do and promote the idea.”

The family of Paula Beverly Davis still doesn’t know who killed her. But they have an opportunity that didn’t exist just a month ago. The family hopes to move her remains from a potters field grave in Westmont Cemetery back to Kansas City, where she’ll be reburied next to her mother.


Please join us at Peace4 the Missing
Missing Persons Awareness and Support Network
http://peace4missing.ning.com

How To Access the NamUs.Gov Missing Person Database

The link below will bring you to the 1st in a series of 6 NamUs Video Tutorials ... the first one here explaining how to access the NamUs Missing Person Database.

The Missing Persons Database contains information
about missing persons that can be entered by anyone; before it appears as a case on NamUs, the information is verified. NamUs provides the

ability to print missing persons posters and even map out possible travel routes in a search for a missing person. Other resources include links to state clearinghouses, medical examiner and coroner offices, law enforcement agencies, victim assistance groups and pertinent legislation.

Please view the video and then leave your comments, suggestions, questions, etc. below ...
http://projects.nfstc.org/namus/video/intro.htm



This Tutorial Video is a great resource to further assist in helping us all become more informed ... I look forward to getting some good discussions going regarding it as well ... Thanks so much!

Web site dedicated to cold cases, finding missing persons

 Story Highlights  -  By Gabriel Falcon

• Web site www.namus.gov was launched in January
  
• Site is intended to help authorities and families unravel mysteries
  
• An estimated 40,000 dead in the U.S. remain unidentified
  
• Comprehensive database also can assist in locating missing adults
• http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/08/20/open.case.web.site/index.html

(CNN) -- In March, a young woman talking to a friend on the phone said she heard someone coming in the back door of her Kentucky apartment. She hasn't been heard from since.

The NamUs Web site has helped in closing 147 missing persons cases and ID'ing 149 decedents since its launch.

Decades earlier, on March 15, 1967, the remains of a woman clad in a blue dress and white shoes were discovered in a field in Baltimore, Maryland.

The two cases are separated by nearly 500 miles and more than 42 years, but authorities are hoping they can both be solved with the help of a federal database that went online this year.

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (http://www.namus.gov//) is designed to help law enforcement agencies and medical examiners across the country unravel the mysteries of cold cases involving missing persons and unidentified remains. It also gives countless families a place to look for loved ones and a chance to find answers and peace of mind.

Launched in January, the database was created after the Department of Justice was tasked with finding ways to help solve the thousands of missing persons and unidentified decedents cases in the United States, according to a statement on the Web site. It's funded through a cooperative agreement from the National Institute of Justice, which is part of the Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs.

NamUs communications director Christine Vivian said the project "was created to address the issue of the estimated 40,000 unidentified dead nationwide, and give families a tool to assist in finding missing adults."

"As more cases are entered into the system, more people in every area -- law enforcement, victim advocacy and the general public -- can become part of the conversation that will resolve cases," Vivian told CNN in an e-mail.

The database offers what may be the most comprehensive public search engine to date for this undertaking.

"With advances in forensic sciences, there is always the possibility of closing an old case," NamUs Operations Manager Billy Young told CNN. "No matter how old the records are, we have someone looking at them."

NamUs is operated by the National Forensic Science Technology Center in Largo, Florida. It has two separate parts: a database of missing persons information containing 1,996 cases -- of which 147 have been closed -- and an unidentified decedent data system, which lists 5,569 cases. Of those, 149 people have been identified.

Information entered in the missing persons file is automatically cross-referenced with the unidentified remains cases to see if there are any matches, the Web site said.

The woman in the blue dress in Baltimore is not one of them. Her skeletal remains were found in a field in the winter of 1967, but forensic experts believe she probably died the previous year. She was 5 feet, 3 inches tall and between the ages of 21 and 45.

The young woman in Kentucky is listed on the missing persons database. She is Crystal Hall, of Pikeville. On March 1, the 24-year-old who called herself "Red" was in her apartment and told a friend on the phone that someone was trying to enter her home from the rear door. It was the last time anyone has heard from her.

Hall was last seen wearing a red shirt, dark blue jeans and large hoop earrings. She has the name "Willy" tattooed on her left leg and another tattoo of a heart on her right arm.

Her case file is typical of thousands of other entries for both NamUs databases, which contain detailed information on physical characteristics, clothing, accessories, police reports, photographs and dental charting.

Typical also is case 5593, which describes a man believed to be in his 30s who was found intoxicated and unconscious on the ground in New York on May 31. He was taken to a hospital with a traumatic brain injury and died on June 3.

The man, who had black hair and was wearing blue jeans, had several scars on his body. He was also missing part of a finger on his right hand.

Young hopes that posting the man's case on the Web site will provide answers to family or friends who may be searching for him.

"It lets them know that someone is constantly looking for their loved ones and they are not being forgotten," he said. "It gives them hope that one day they will be able to get closure."


Please join us at Peace4 the Missing
Missing Persons Awareness and Support Network
http://peace4missing.ning.com

NamUs.Gov Utilizes the Power of the People

Much thanks to Larry Ramsdell of Peace4 the Missing for sending the link for this great article ...

Public has multiple databases it can look through to help find missing people

CENTRAL JERSEY — The case started to unfold Feb. 22 when a Guatemalan woman contacted her country's embassy in the United States, searching for her husband, who had been missing for about two weeks. She knew that Henrique Freitas, who was in his late 30s, was in the New Brunswick area. The query eventually went to the Middlesex County Medical Examiner's Office.


When an assistant medical examiner contacted Donna Fontana, the New Jersey State Police forensic anthropologist, she directed the embassy to check an online missing and unidentified persons database known as "NamUs." With information from Fontana and the Medical Examiner's Office, the woman looked through the NamUs database and positively identified her husband's body through photographs and information, including details of his deformed left foot. The grim conclusion to the inquiry at least meant Fontana could remove the case from NamUs, but thousands of others remain in the federal database.

Formally known as the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, the U.S. Justice Department-run site allows police and the public to view information about missing people and unidentified bodies across the country. As the state's case manager for NamUs, Fontana works closely with the system, one of newest online tools the State Police and law enforcement across the country use to keep track of these cases.

One of the most important features of the database, Fontana said, is that ordinary Web users can view, sort and even enter information on the site. "We're utilizing the power of the public,'' Fontana said. "They can enter missing persons, they can view information and photographs of unidentified bodies, and that can definitely help and has helped cases where we've had identifications.''

Anyone can visit www.namus.gov to search the files by demographics, physical traits or other information, according to the Web site. Information entered into NamUs by public users will be verified by law enforcement, but those details can go a long way toward helping investigators, Fontana said.

"You're kind of opening up a file drawer of information about unidentified bodies and asking the public to help in trying to locate a missing person,'' she said. A search late last week found that 54 people statewide, including six people from the MyCentralJersey.com coverage area, were listed in the NamUs missing persons database. Medical examiners in Hunterdon, Middlesex and Union counties had registered 20 unidentified bodies at that time. Somerset County had none.

The missing persons and unidentified bodies databases are updated constantly by authorities and medical examiners, Fontana said. Another key feature of the system is its ability to compare details of both types of cases, sometimes helping authorities identify a body.

"The more information you provide, the better chance you have of identifying the individual,'' Fontana said. Some of those same cases are featured on MyCentralJersey.com's Missing Persons photo gallery, which is available to readers MyCentralJersey.com/missing.

Thousands of readers have clicked through the gallery since it was launched in January. More than 16,000 people were reported missing in New Jersey in 2009, although most cases were resolved by year's end. And nationwide, there are some 40,000 cases each year of unidentified human remains, according to the Justice Department. Of those active cases, many are available on sites such as NamUs, the New Jersey State Police Web page, www.state.nj.us/njsp/miss/mpu.html and MyCentralJersey.com.

NamUs was launched in full in 2009 after several years of planning, according to the Justice Department. The concept was born in 2005 at a summit of federal, state and local officials from law enforcement, scientists, victim advocates and other fields.

Christian Slater, Elisha Cuthbert, The Forgotten, Project Edan and NamUs.Gov

Beyond completely enjoying The Forgotten for pure excellent entertainment reasons, I'm also so incredibly impressed by the show's writers, actors and entire crew's authentic compassion for the 'in real life' stories of those forgotten as well as their active support of the organizations most committed to making sure that no one goes .... Forgotten.

Elisha Cuthbert and Christian Slater on Finding 'The Forgotten'

On 'The Forgotten,' Cuthbert's Maxine Denver joins a team led by Slater of non-professionals who help law enforcement identify Jane and John Does. The Jerry Bruckheimer-produced series, which premiered in the fall, marks a new television venture for Cuthbert, who's best known as Kim Bauer, daughter of Jack Bauer on Fox's '24,' and for the movies 'Old School,' and 'Love Actually.'

We chatted with Slater and Cuthbert about the similarities between 'Quiet Man' and 'The Forgotten' -- besides the dead bodies -- and about how 'The Forgotten' has started to solve real-life John and Jane Doe mysteries.

I was going to ask you if victims rights groups have contacted you about the show but there's been a development in that, right?

Slater: When we started the show I really didn't have any knowledge that there are people out there who do what we do.  But there are real people like you and me, volunteers, who are willing to go that extra mile to give these families that closure that they desperately need.

I started to hear about different organizations like (Project) Edan, which stands for Everyone Deserves a Name, and NamUs.Gov (The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System) which has actually been very influential in solving recent Jane and John Doe cases.

When we started, I had a feeling that we had a real opportunity here to do something significant and really solve some real cases or at least play a part.  I'm thrilled and honored and humbled to say that that started to happen.



Please join us at Peace4 the Missing
Missing Persons Awareness and Support Network
http://peace4missing.ning.com

NamUs.Gov is the only National Database for Missing and Unidentified Persons

NamUs.Gov is our nations one and only database in which all missing persons and unidentified persons case files must be submitted into ... it is essential that everyone utilizes NamUs in order to establish a much needed central database.

Utilization of and efforts into any other database other than NamUs.Gov disperse and weaken the very cause NamUs was created for, which is to centralize and strengthen each Missing and Unidentified Case.



A few points perhaps necessary to make clear:



1. The distinction between a database tool and awareness/support efforts ... NamUs is the tool we all need to use and direct LE, etc. towards ... we, each one of us, each organization are still on "Awareness duty" - we must remain committed towards increasing the exposure of each missing persons case, that's our job, NamUs is THE tool to utilize, the information it contains still (even more so) needs to be carried out far and wide by us, each vital missing persons organization, etc.



2. We must stop trying to "reinvent the wheel" so to say by creating another tool (ie. missing and unidentified database) to do the job that NamUs was already created to accomplish ... there is not a need for another missing and unidentified DATABASE/TOOL ... drawing attention and volunteer efforts away from our established central database of NamUs weakens our shared cause. Directing LE, etc. towards any other database other than NamUs creates confusion and lack of support from the very ones from whom we most need to be involved.

We all need to join our voices together in order to be more clearly and loudly heard ... we can do that ... so let's get going and get it done. ;)

If you are willing to give of yourself in order to help the Missing and are able to submit case info. into a database - make sure that you enter the data into NamUs first and foremost ... and thank you for your authentic compassion and giving heart.

• Home
• About NamUs
• Contacts
• Volunteer Information
• News Room

Please join us at Peace4 the Missing
Missing Persons Awareness and Support Network
http://peace4missing.ning.com